Does anyone else work remotely and pet sit at the same time? I love the lifestyle, new places, and new pets, but working online while surrounded by animals is definitely a challenge! Pets always want to jump into my online Spanish classes. My students get confused ’cause there’s a different pet popping up every once in a while.
How do you manage it? Do you tell your students or coworkers that you move houses a lot? Sometimes I end up explaining waaaay too much about where I am this week!
And then there’s the whole “work setup” thing… Some places don’t have a proper desk, so I’ve had to improvise by using the ironing board as my desk. Not exactly ideal, haha.
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• Ask hosts about their pets’ behavior. Ones who WFH and have pets tend to be more aware of how their pets do with their humans working online.
• Avoid puppies and other pets that need nonstop attention.
• Be selective about where and whom you sit for, so you avoid needless disruptions. But note: Anyone who telecommutes sometimes deals with disruptions. Like even if I work from my own home, sometimes someone will ring the doorbell or my dog will bark. Or my coworkers’ pets or kids might interrupt occasionally. That’s normal life, which all reasonable telecommuters know.
• Use a virtual background — there’s no need to explain your location to anyone if you don’t want to. (Personally, all of my coworkers know I sit and move locations, also that I otherwise travel. No big deal. But if I didn’t want to disclose that, it also would be my choice.)
Personally, I’ve telecommuted and managed remote teams for many years. Have never found it challenging, except that years ago the technology was much more limiting than it is now.
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Another thing I’ve noticed that really helps is when the hosts themselves work online and the pet is used to it. I’ve even seen some pets that completely understand when their human “isn’t available.”
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I’ve been traveling and working remotely for the last three years. I’ve been fully remote for work for about 8 years, the first 5 years out of my own house. When my daughter moved out to go to university, I started traveling full-time (my daughter joins me wherever I am when she has breaks from school - we will be spending the holidays in London this year).
I don’t say anything about pet sitting at work. My personal life and professional life are completely separate. People know I travel a lot and I might occasionally mention where I am, but that’s it. I often have a cat curled up in my lap, but typically not visible on camera. I also use a work background on zoom so the houses and/or hotels I’m in are not visible.
The biggest issue I have is time zones. Tonight, my last meeting is at 11pm my time because I’m in the UK and I’m meeting with people on the west coast of the US.
Work set up is a big thing. I really miss my home office that was set up ergonomically for me, but it’s a trade off for getting to travel. I do look very carefully at sits and would not take one that doesn’t have high speed wifi and a space that looks appropriate for me to work (could be an office or just a dining room table). I choose sits carefully to make sure I can fulfill the sit responsibilities, fulfill my work responsibilities, and also have some time to explore the area and do some fun stuff. I have done a lot of sits for HOs who also work remotely, so they typically have a good office set up and they like having a remote worker sit so the routine stays similar for the pets.
The only thing I find challenging about remote work - and this is for remote work generally, not just while traveling - is time management. When your work is always with you, it’s very easy to just work all the time at all hours and forget to take days off.
Overall, it’s worked out great for me so far. Eventually, I will buy another house and settle down in one place again, but for now I love my traveling life!
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For me, it’s kinda hard to keep my personal and professional lives totally separate, especially with people I’m friends with or have stuff in common with. Since THS is such a big part of my life right now, I feel like not sharing anything is like leaving out a really important part of who I am.
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I’m transparent and friendly with lots of folks from companies where I work / have worked. Usually when people hear about my travels, whether sit or nonsit, they’re cool and interested.
Time management has never been an issue for me, but I choose where to sit so that I don’t have unnecessary work hassles. And anyway, the folks I work with are spread across the world, so it’s not as if I’m ever in the same time zone as everyone. Even the team members I manage are in different countries and ones in my own country are in various time zones. And our company even holds duplicate all-hands meetings, because many employees are in opposite time zones / on various continents. We do most of our work communicating and collaborating asynchronously.
Remote jobs vary a lot in their flexibility or lack of. When companies recruit me, I make clear at the outset how much flexibility I want. If that’s not possible, I don’t bother.
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@Maggie8K Unfortunately, my time management issues come from me, not from sitting or work. Just my own workaholic tendencies, I have to remind myself to try and maintain some work/life balance. Traveling and sitting actually helps with that.
The people I work with are spread across the US so I need to have meeting times available during US business hours. I use a scheduling app so people can see my meeting availability and schedule. I’ve started limiting my meetings to one day a week. I end up with one day a week of back to back meeting all day, but it’s much more efficient time wise. I typically have 6-8 meetings each week, so if I do them all on one day, then the rest of the week is completely flexible (which makes me happy since that flexibility with my time is the entire reason I work remotely).
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Great topic! I’ve been in a full-time remote role for the past nine years, and during that time, travel has become an integral and energizing part of how I work. Although I’ve only been with THS for a year, I’ve consistently traveled about 20–25% of the year over the last seven years.
When planning trips, I plan for productivity and reliability. I specifically seek listings that offer a workspace with a view and high-speed internet. I travel with a complete portable office setup—including noise-cancelling headphones—and I carry unlimited data so I can use my phone as a hotspot if needed.
To reduce interruptions, I make sure to walk dogs extensively before any scheduled meetings, however, cats will cat. Unless I’m combining travel with personal time off, I limit my destinations to one or two time zones away to avoid late-night/early morning meetings or communication delays.
I always use a virtual background to ensure my location is not a distraction during meetings, but I’m happy to share stories or insights from my adventures when it feels appropriate.
Travel has never interfered with my ability to perform; if anything, it keeps me engaged, creative, and refreshed.
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I inform my hosts in my THS profile that their home is my Travelling Office, and it is the primary reason I house/dog sit: to vary my work-life and provide them with quality care for their home and pet. That is why I require a table, chair, and high-speed internet. Otherwise, I don’t do it. I would rather go somewhere else OR stay home.
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I teach remotely too (German in my case). In most cases, classes work well and the pets are nearby without being disruptive. Whether I explain pet sitting and my current location or not, depends on my relationship with the student.
If there is no work desk, I work at the kitchen or dining room table.
I did have some incidents, of course! One key on my keyboard is missing because a cat sat on my laptop and then grabbed onto it with her claws when I wanted to remove her. (Not during a lesson, luckily…) Today, a little cat went to some places she shouldn’t in the apartment and I had to interrupt the lesson twice. In the end, she fell asleep in my lap.
A dog at one sit barked and howled a lot at random times, so I had to leave her in a separate room when I did my lessons.
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That´s just hilarous!!! LOL
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Such a lovely photo 
Noise-cancelling headphones are definitely a must, I think they’re one of the best inventions ever!
I can totally relate to what you said about how travel keeps you creative and refreshed. It’s the best vitamin.